Top stories of 2012: No. 5 - Jessica Ridgeway abduction and death

Dec. 28, 2012

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Written by

Josh Awtry

Web editor's note: Through the end of the year, the Coloradoan is releasing a list of top stories of the year as voted on by the readers. The full list will run in Sunday's Coloradoan.

"Any parent could have been in her mother's shoes when she sent her daughter on a short walk to school," a Coloradoan editorial noted the week after Jessica Ridgeway's disappearance.

The thought sums up the most chilling fact about Ridgeway's disappearance and alleged murder: it could have happened on any street, or to any child.

Ridgeway, a 10-year-old resident of Westminster, disappeared Oct. 5 while walking to her elementary school. A nationwide search quickly followed, with Colorado authorities spreading her picture far and wide, and citizens from as far away as Texas and Maine reported seeing the missing girl.

Hope came to a sad end when Ridgeway's remains were found five days later in a nearby park. Austin Sigg, the 17-year-old who turned himself in to authorities in connection with Ridgeway's death, lived just a mile from the 10-year-old Ridgeway.

Sigg will be tried as an adult — he faces 17 counts in the case, including first degree murder and second degree kidnapping. Although the trial is yet to commence, Ridgeway will leave at least one lasting legacy: the park in which she was found will be renamed in her honor.